(Photo taken by Alyssa Demetriou). As i entered the building, I felt a sense of awe as I noticed the unique architecture. The inside of the building had a wall that curved, in order to compliment the outside arena that faces the pond. The ceiling was high and the space was decorated with colorful pieces of art that reminded me of flocks of vibrant birds flying through the sky. I personally love sitting in the heart, or middle, of auditoriums because I can see everything centrally on the stage and I am not too close where I have to be looking up to the actors and not too far back so I can actually see the detail on the stage. I was lucky enough to be sat right in the middle! When the lights dimmed and it stopped "snowing" on the stage, I felt anticipation as I knew the play was about to begin. Just as the audience quiteted, the actors playing reporters emerged from the back of the theater, creating a sense of inclusion with the audience. The size of the auditorium contributed to my experience because I did not feel like the actors were blurry and distant objects just rolling around on a stage but actual people emoting and expressing their feelings. The role of place in the Good life is comfort. I feel there has to be a perfect medium between all things in order to contribute to a Good Life, meaning the auditorium was big but not too big, the lights were dimmed but not darkened, complimenting the colors of the stage, the air conditioning was just right, and so on, creating an enjoyable experience.

(Photo taken by Alyssa Demetriou). I attended the performance with my roommate Daniel and my friend Alyssa, who is in this picture with me. To get ready for the performance, I reserved my ticket online and read the short description about the play on the Common Activities page on canvas. Daniel and I drove to the auditorium and met with Alyssa there. Attending with friends enhanced my experience because it really embraced the idea behind the class, that it is a one we all have to take as freshmen, creating a bond and sense of unity over learning the same ideas and participating in some same common activities. The role of shared experiences in the Good life is the idea of enjoying time with others. Some people may prefer being alone but I love being with people. Friends and family are huge components of the Good Life for me because I am not on this earth alone; I am here with my friends, with my family, and with strangers, so I do things with them to show my friendship and love and to simply have fun!

(Photo of program provided at the theater). The performance helps me develop a new way of seeing and understanding our own culture in two ways-one where the play almost mocks people for going to see plays and one where people of higher class are completely oblivious to the reality of people of lower classes. I found it very funny and somewhat ironic when one of the characters asked why people dress up super nicely to sit in the dark in silence to watch people on stage move around and act. It was, as we say today, a real-life subtweet where the actor/character was directly commenting at us. It its true-why do we get all dressed up to just sit and watch a play when it doesn't matter how were dressed, it just matters how the characters are dressed? It is because of the social norms and expectations of the culture that goes along with going to a theatre to watch a play. I also thought it was very relevant to what is going on in the world today where people don't care or care to learn about people that are lower than them socioeconomically. Seeing how the priest who has sheltered from seeing real poor people his entire life acted when seeing the mother in her workplace and making these classist remarks and asking questions shined light on how although we might not be as verbal of how we feel today, we still think things of others and have preconceptions that are completely incorrect. Yes, the play did take place in a different time when, I feel, there was a darker line splitting the working class and elites, but it is still somewhat true today where we can just look at someone and create a version of what we think their lives consist of based on stereotypes. The central issue addressed in the performance was getting what one wants, wether it be forgetting about something from the past and moving on, working with someone one admires, or maintaining a certain self-image. Before the performance, I knew that "The Divine was a fable about the meeting between this brilliant, mythical actress and this young man whose innocence is shattered by his growing awareness of the inequities of his times" (David Young, Ph.D. Director in the program). The performance changed my views about the issues described in the performance because I feel bad that I myself think things of others that I truly do not know anything about and it takes me back and makes me think about the fact that I can not judge people myself based on nothing.

(Photographed is Daniel Turk, who gave me consent to use him in this picture). The Divine: A Play for Sarah Bernhardt provides us an opportunity for katharsis because of the points I brought up earlier. This play in particular directly made the audience look at itself and examine why exactly the spectators decided to dress up to go watch a play in a dark room and think about how they treat other people that are different from them. That point of equality, or lack thereof in thoughts is socially uncomfortable but very in the now. This play allows us to reflect on the way we treat going to a play and the way we treat other human beings.